1707:
Charles Wesley, hymn-writer and prolific preacher, was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire.

1737:
Antonio Stradivari, violin-maker, died in his 90s.

1865:
The United States officially abolished slavery with the ratification of the 13th Amendment.

1912:
Newspapers reported the discovery of Piltdown Man in Sussex. It was claimed to be the fossilised skull and remains of the earliest known European. In 1953 it was proved to be a hoax. 1952: Bill and Ben, the Flowerpot Men, were first seen on BBC TV along with Little Weed.

1969:
The death penalty for murder was formally abolished in Britain.

1970:
Divorce became legal in Italy.

On This Day Last Year:
David Cameron’s hardline stance over the eurozone treaty appeared to have secured a significant boost in public opinion as the Tories opened up a six-point poll lead over Labour.

1915:
Australian, New Zealand and British troops were evacuated from the ill-fated Gallipoli expedition.

1928:
Harry Ramsden started his fish and chip restaurant in a hut in Guiseley, near Leeds, which soon became the most famous in the world.

1957:
At the height of his career, Elvis Presley received his call-up papers.

1982:
Two Townsend Thoresen ferries collided off Harwich with the loss of six lives.

1990:
The last remaining pit in the Rhondda - Maerdy Colliery - closed after the afternoon shift finished, ending more than a century of coal mining.

On This Day Last Year:
David Cameron flew into Afghanistan to pay a pre-Christmas visit to troops - but his plans were left in tatters by a dust storm. The Prime Minister had been due to make a morale-boosting trip to Camp Bastion in Helmand province, where most British forces are based. Instead, the C-17 Globemaster had to land at Kandahar airfield, where only a small proportion of the 9,500 UK troops deployed in Afghanistan are based.

1846:
Robert Liston used anaesthetic (ether) for the first time in a British operation at University College Hospital, London, to perform an amputation of a leg.

1879:
The first performance took place of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen.

1937:
Walt Disney’s Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated cartoon with colour and sound, was premiered in the USA.

1945:
American war hero General George ‘Old Blood and Guts’ Patton died as the result of a car crash.

1988:
Terrorists blew up a Pan-Am jumbo jet which crashed on top of the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The plane was en route from London to New York when it exploded, killing all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground.

1989:
US troops invaded Panama to oust dictator Manuel Noriega.

On This Day Last Year:
The Military Wives choir continued its relentless march to the top of the charts and was outselling the rest of the Top 20 combined, according to figures from the Official Charts Company.